GTK System Settings Module in 12.10

[Jonathan Thomas]

Hello all,

As some of you may know, Kubuntu ships a System Settings module that
allows users to control GTK+ 2 themes from within KDE. This System
Settings module was salvaged from the old gtk-qt-engine codebase and
was modified by myself to become a generic GTK theme/font
configuration model. It's feature set is a bit spartan. Apart from
being able to set the theme and font for GTK2 applications, it doesn't
do anything else. It's also a bit unmaintained, as I have found myself
busy with other obligations both in and out of the FOSS community.
It's been left to bitrot, and still doesn't support controlling GTK+ 3
themes, etc.

Fortunately, Blue Systems has sponsored the development of a new
configuration module that has the benefits of A) Being maintained, and
B) supporting GTK3. It also allows you to set toolbar style (Icons
only, text only, text beside icons, text below icons, etc) as well as
whether or not icons should be displayed in GTK buttons and menus. It
also has a preview feature, but this preview feature raises a few
questions about its inclusion within Kubuntu since it brings GTK
packages on to the CD:

[11:21:07] <JontheEchidna> So that new GTK style KCM actually uses GTK
widgets for a preview feature
[11:21:27] <JontheEchidna> we could either:
[11:21:38] <JontheEchidna> -Use some of the new CD space, give in and
just have GTK On the CD
[11:21:52] <JontheEchidna> -Disable the preview feature via a patch
[11:22:03] <JontheEchidna> -Keep the old KCM and not support GTK3
[11:22:35] <JontheEchidna> but I'm not gonna mess with the seeds until
that's figured out
[11:23:01] <Riddell> JontheEchidna: mess with seeds?
[11:23:11] <JontheEchidna> s/kde-config-gtk/kde-config-gtk-style/
[11:23:11] <kubotu> JontheEchidna: You did something wrong... Try
s/you/me/ or tell me "help sed"
[11:23:22] <Riddell> oh I missread
[11:24:00] <Riddell> of all the reasons to put gtk on the cd it's not a bad one
[11:24:26] <JontheEchidna> yeah
[11:25:06] <JontheEchidna> it'd also mean we could support album art
transfers in amarok by using the gtk libgpod
[11:25:47] <JontheEchidna> and we could drop the difference with
debian in our oxygen gtk style packages where we don't link to gtk
[11:27:27] <Riddell> dunno I'd have to ponder more


Speaking as the maintainer of the current GTK KCM (which is not to say
that it is maintained...), I'd definitely like to see the old one go.
It's unmaintained and I'd really rather not maintain it. But since the
inclusion of the new KCM does bring up the perennial question of "Do
we want GTK on the CD", it would be best to consult the wider Kubuntu
development community for opinions before taking action. If after
discussion there is not a consensus, we can always put the issue in
front of the Kubuntu Council for a vote.

Cheers,
Jonathan